We have a year-old sheltie who used to get chased by the hens as a pup, and now he would love to chase them, if he was out at the same time. He did get out once and happily chased them until they stopped, then he stopped and waited for them to get going again so he could chase again! He didn't seem to be interested in hurting them, but it was way too much excitement for our three poor girls.

I would love to hear from someone with a reliably good dog with chickens. Tell me how you trained!

You could try this : walk your dog (on a very short leash with a very firm hand) several times a day for a few minutes between your chickens. Keep talking to him in a low voice, tell him he must watch the hens and be very sweet to them so they will lay lots of very nice eggs. If he is good, give him a treat, if not give the leash a tug. A good trick is to give chickens and dog some treats to share. After a couple of days, try a longer leash. It is important to train a dog for several short periods rather than one long period. Good luck, Anny.

When we first got chickens and ducks our dog had already been through obedience classes so our job was a bit easier. Every day, a few times a day, we would hold a chick up to her. As she sniffed it we told her NO. Then it was outside time-with a leash. Everytime she showed interest in the birds she was repremanded. Once we knew we could trust her with us around we tied her out in the middle of the duck pen for an average of 20 minutes a day. (we did keep a watch) The less she paid attention to them, the better treat she got. Now Anise leaves the birds alone-basically ignores them. She does help us herd our ducks into their house at night, on command-gotta make her earn her keep! Her only vice when it comes to the ducks is she likes to walk past them ignoring them and then jump right in the center of the group and watch them scatter-she doesn't chase them, just likes to watch them run! We figure we can live with this since she has now spent many hours at a time out with them and never tried to hurt one. It also helped that our dog is part welsh corgi and they are herding dogs. It can be done and your dog and chickens can live in peace-but only with hard work from you. Mina

Wooster:
Our german shepard and yorkie could not control themselves around the chickens because they are so dang interesting! I agree with Annie and Melinda's strategies. We bring the dogs out for supervised activities -- they get to lie down nicely outside the pen while we are inside doing chicken chores (we call this doggie TV). If they bark, try to dig, whine or rush back and forth, they get one reprimand and then they get kicked out to a part of the yard where they can't see the chickens. If they are quiet and polite, we sometimes invite them in. The chickens sometimes come over to them and investigate. This seems to satiate their need to bark and chase the girls. BUT! I'd never do this unsupervised. There are some canines who never lose their wolfie leanings...

Thanks to everyone for their input. Shelties are herding dogs too, so I'd love to get to the point where he helped herd them in at night! I will get my short leash and very best treats and get working!

I'm working with my two American Working Farmcollie pups. One, the male, is a little interested in the chicks, but hasn't shown any sign of aggression towards them after being told "NO!" sharply on the first introduction. The female, on the other hand . . . I am afraid will be a chicken killer if she gets a chance. She comes to the door of the brooder when I'm taking care of the chicks and stands there very alertly, slavering. She has snapped at a chick I was holding, and tried to chase some that got out this morning while I was refilling their feeders. All this in spite of repeated severe correction. Considering how long it has taken to train her out of some other bad behaviors, and some we are still working on, I'm not at all sure we are going to succeed with her and chickens. We plan to keep the chicks in chicken tractors when they come out of the brooders, but I doubt that any escapees will survive Belle unless they can get up into a tree! These two dogs share bloodlines on their fathers' sides, but are very different. So the moral of the story is, it's going to depend very much on the individual dog!

I have a Vizsla, (Hungarian Pointer) and he grew up with the chickens. Usually when he is chewing on a bone the oldest chicken will come up to him and try to peck at his bone. He pretty much ignores them except when he wants to play then he just walks behind them, he dosen't chase them. We also have 2 cats and I think that keeps him more interested than the chickens.

I have a Golden Retriever who i can leave out totally unsupervised with my chooks. We had the chooks when we got him as a pup and we found the chooks could outrun the dog. Eventually when he did catch up with them, he would lie on them like a game. We never made a big deal out of it and would just say "leave them alone" and ignore him. this worked and theyre best buddies now. The chooks couldn't care less about the dog and visa versa. He's also best buddies with the rabbit too.